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Amazon Redshift vs New Relic

Amazon Redshift logo

Amazon Redshift

Software

Fast, scalable cloud data warehouse from AWS

From
Free
Rated
-
New Relic logo

New Relic

Software

Observability made simple

From
Free
Rated
-

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Amazon Redshift on-demand pricing runs up to 75% higher than competitors like Snowflake and BigQuery; New Relic data ingest costs can be high for large-scale deployments with high logging volume, making budgeting difficult
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, New Relic covers APM.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Amazon Redshift and New Relic actually diverge.

Attributes where Amazon Redshift and New Relic differ
AttributeAmazon RedshiftNew Relic
Pricing modelusage-basedUnknown
PlatformsWebWeb, Api, Mobile
Founded20122008

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Amazon Redshift

  • Columnar Storage
  • Massively Parallel
  • Machine Learning
  • AQUA Acceleration
  • Data Sharing
  • Federated Query
  • Concurrency Scaling
  • S3

Only in New Relic

  • APM
  • Infrastructure Monitoring
  • Log Management
  • Browser Monitoring
  • Synthetic Monitoring
  • Mobile Monitoring
  • Kubernetes Monitoring
  • AI Ops

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Amazon Redshift

  • Business intelligencenot New Relic
  • Data warehousingnot New Relic
  • Real-time analyticsnot New Relic
  • Reportingnot New Relic
  • Machine learningnot New Relic

New Relic

  • Application monitoringnot Amazon Redshift
  • Infrastructure monitoringnot Amazon Redshift
  • Error trackingnot Amazon Redshift
  • Performance optimizationnot Amazon Redshift

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Amazon Redshift

  • On-demand pricing runs up to 75% higher than competitors like Snowflake and BigQuery
  • Requires significant manual tuning including managing concurrency scaling costs and configuring Workload Management queues
  • Performance degrades without proper design of distribution keys and sort keys
  • Limited elastic resize options - can only halve or double current cluster size
  • AWS lock-in makes it unsuitable for multi-cloud architectures

New Relic

  • Data ingest costs can be high for large-scale deployments with high logging volume, making budgeting difficult
  • Core user licensing model adds complexity to pricing with distinction between full platform users and basic users
  • Default logs obfuscation may miss some sensitive patterns requiring custom configuration
  • Retention limits even on paid tiers require additional storage for long-term compliance requirements

Pricing, plan by plan

Amazon Redshift

Free
  • Free TrialFree
    • 750 DC2.Large hours
    • 2 months free
    • Full features
  • On-Demand$0.25/hour
    • Pay per node hour
    • All features
    • Standard support

New Relic

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the New Relic review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Amazon Redshift if

  • You need columnar storage.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want massively parallel.

Choose New Relic if

  • You need apm.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api, Mobile.
  • You also want infrastructure monitoring.

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Redshift or New Relic better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon Redshift starts at Free and New Relic at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Redshift or New Relic?
Amazon Redshift starts at Free and New Relic at Free.
Does Amazon Redshift or New Relic run on more platforms?
Amazon Redshift runs on Web. New Relic runs on Web, Api, Mobile.
Can I use Amazon Redshift for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Amazon Redshift best used for?
Amazon Redshift is most often used for business intelligence, data warehousing, real-time analytics, reporting. Of those, business intelligence and data warehousing are not what New Relic is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon Redshift do that New Relic cannot?
Amazon Redshift covers Columnar Storage, Massively Parallel, Machine Learning, AQUA Acceleration. New Relic covers APM, Infrastructure Monitoring, Log Management, Browser Monitoring.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Amazon Redshift: What deployment options does Amazon Redshift offer?

Redshift offers Provisioned Cluster (with RA3 or DC2 nodes) and Serverless options to match varying workloads. The new Redshift RG instance family, powered by Graviton, delivers 2.4x faster performance than RA3 at 30% lower cost per vCPU.

Source
New Relic: Does New Relic offer a free tier?

Yes, New Relic's free tier is perpetual with no credit card required. It includes 100 GB of free data ingest monthly, one Full Platform User with access to all 50+ capabilities, and unlimited Basic Users for querying and dashboard creation.

Source
Amazon Redshift: What does Amazon Redshift cost?

Provisioned cluster pricing: RA3 on-demand starts at $1.086/hour for ra3.xlplus. Serverless costs approximately $0.375 per RPU-hour with 4-RPU minimum (roughly $1.50/hour active workload). Managed storage costs $0.024/GB-month.

Source
New Relic: How much does New Relic cost for paid plans?

Paid plans start at $49 per month per core user. New Relic uses consumption-based pricing where you pay only for what you use. Annual commitment options are available with volume discounts for larger teams.

Source
Amazon Redshift: Does Redshift work with data lakes?

Yes, Redshift's integrated data lake query engine processes workloads on Apache Iceberg tables and other supported formats in Amazon S3, allowing you to run SQL analytics across your data warehouse and data lake from the same engine.

Source
New Relic: What data retention is included in New Relic's free tier?

The free tier includes a minimum of 8 days data retention for troubleshooting. Paid plans offer extended retention periods and customizable data retention policies.

Source
Amazon Redshift: Is there a free tier for Amazon Redshift?

AWS offers a free trial with $300 USD in Serverless credits valid for 90 days, but Redshift is not part of the permanent AWS Free Tier.

Source
New Relic: How many integrations does New Relic support?

New Relic provides access to 780+ integrations and unlimited hosts at no additional cost. These include monitoring integrations for various cloud services, databases, and applications.

Source
New Relic: Can I use New Relic to monitor multiple cloud providers?

Yes, New Relic is cloud-agnostic and supports monitoring across AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, and on-premises infrastructure in a single platform.

Source
New Relic: What is New Relic's ownership structure today?

New Relic was acquired by TPG and Francisco Partners on July 31, 2023, for $6.5 billion and transitioned from a publicly traded company to a private company in November 2023.

Source

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